EU: European Commission presents its 2017 Work Programme

On 25 October the European Commission presented its 2017 work programme ‘Delivering a Europe that protects, empowers and defends.’ In line with the philosophy underpinning previous work programmes the EU Commission is focusing its efforts (21 initiatives) on delivering the 10 priorities outlined in the Political Guidelines that were set out at the beginning of the mandate. 2017 will be the year the still to be defined European Pillar of Social Rights is established, and the year that sees new regulations on issues including work life balance and interpretative guidance on the implementing the Working Time Directive.
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Employment. The EU Commission reiterated its previous agenda announcements including its ‘A new Skills Agenda for Europe’ to tackle unemployment (c.f. article No. 9715) and its key Youth Guarantee initiative’ (c.f. article No. 9854) and went further in announcing that by the end of the 2016 it would launch the European Solidarity Corps that would “create opportunities for under-30s to contribute actively to society in a spirit of solidarity, and acquire new skills and experience, including lang

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